Jak's Muse
by AgentRusco
Summary: Jak finds himself alone in a silent and nondescript place. An exploration of description more than anything. I've fixed the chapters.
1. Alone

Jak sat up and rubbed his forehead_. Dang, what happened? Where am I?_ He glanced around, but could see nothing in the extreme darkness. He reached for his blaster, intending to use its laser as a light, but found that it was not strapped onto his back. _Crap. What the heck happened?_ "Dax!" He called upon realizing that his furry friend was not attached to him as usual. "Dax! C'mon, man!" He slowly stood up. The blood rushed from his head and he hastily slumped back into the dirt.

He began to crawl, hoping to find a wall to follow. He figured he was in some sort of cave. He found nothing as he shuffled in a large circle. Suddenly a noise was heard, a slow metallic scraping. With the noise came a bit of light from above, illuminating the immediate area around Jak. He blinked, shielding his eyes form the light that made his sore head throb. Once his eyes adjusted to the beam, Jak found that he still could not see anything of his surroundings. The light was positioned in such a way that it obscured everything outside of its radius. Only fine white sand could be seen.

Jak tried standing again, and this time was able to remain on his feet. He slowly walked toward the edge of the light, only to find that the beam followed him.

"Hullo? Anyone there? Get me outta here!" He shouted up at the light source. He lowered his head and slumped back onto the ground. As he lay there, he tried to recall all that had gone on before.

He and Daxter had been walking through Haven Forest. It was beautiful this time of year, reminding Jak of Sandover Village in autumn. They had gone out there for a bit of peace and quiet after all the adventures and saving the world. Jak had leaned up against a tree with Dax curled up on his chest. What then? That was all Jak could remember. _Perhaps if I thought back further…_

"Jak! C'mon lad, half the day's gone, you need to do your chores yet." Jak's uncle shook him from a deep sleep. Jak rolled from his bed and rubbed his eyes. The midday brilliance streamed through his open window. Birds could be heard, happily chirping in the trees nearby. As he pulled on his blue tunic, he heard a commotion outside his window.

"Psst! Jak." Spiky red hair framed by two pointy ears showed above the window ledge. Jak reached out and helped his friend into the room.

"What are you doing here Dax? Won't your mum be angry that you skipped out?" He grinned. Dax had been grounded earlier for digging in his mother's garden.

Daxter shook his head and showed his large front teeth in a roguish smile. "Ah, she don't know I'm gone. Let's go down to the fisherman's dock and find some cool crap." He moved back to the window and began to climb back out.

"Dax, I have to do my chores real quick, besides, if the fisherman comes back, we're screwed."

"Screwed? Well, yeah, if we get caught. You don't haveta do chores. I don't." Jak glared at him and exited the room via door. Daxter was left hanging from the window ledge.

Jak shook his head. No use thinking of the long forgotten past. The light still shone straight down on him. Silence invaded his head. "Help me! Anyone?" Jak called. He walked for a few minutes, the light staying just above him. Again, he sat and remembered the past.

"Uh, Jak… I don't think this is such a good idea. I mean, that creepy, oozy purple stuff…" Daxer glanced nervously at the pool of dark eco.

"Don't worry Dax. I've got it under control." Jak patted his armored shoulder, and as Dax leapt on, he pulled his jetboard off of his back. It really was a piece of cake to glide over the bubbling evil. Jak balanced the board and they made it safely to the other side.

Jak sighed. Those adventures would not really help him much. He began to search for something useful in this situation. He started with looking for his weapons. He found that his original observation was correct, no gun or mod remained to him. His jetboard was not attached to his back, and his ancient precursor armor was striped from him. Even his heavy boots were gone. He was left with only his blue tunic and red bandanna. He rubbed his banged-up head, feeling his once-again spiky hair. He felt very alone without Daxter's snide remarks from his customary spot on his right shoulder. Once more he slumped to the ground, too weak to try to escape the light and the remote darkness.

"Whooeee!" Daxter shouted. They were bouncing along on the back of the little flut flut. It clucked happily as it trotted along the narrow ledge. Daxter hung onto Jak's pauldron, running his hand along the smooth wall. The brilliant colors of the bird were reflected off the icy walls and ceiling.

A similar memory came to Jak. He was racing along on the back of a leaper in the desert. The hot wind whipped his hair, but his goggles and bandanna protected his face. Daxter clung to his shoulder and shouted into his ear.

"Can't you get a windshield and air conditioning with this thing?"

Jak chuckled. What fun things the two of them had done. Sure, many dangerous missions and harrowing escapes, but they had always made it through those things together. He lowered his head sadly and fell into a fitful sleep.


	2. Silence

Jak moaned. A hideously bright light shone directly in his face. _The Baron!_ He jumped up with a growl, expecting to break free in hopes of crushing his captors. Instead, he found that he was much too weak to turn dark, instead slumping to the ground in a puff of fine sand. He lifted his head slowly, finding that he felt much better than he had during the previous awakening. However, he could not remember a time when he had ever felt so much like crap. There was the time that he had been captured and experimented upon with Dark Eco, but that had not left him exhausted, instead, quite the opposite. Then there was the time he had been banished to the desert. He recalled nearly dying of thirst in that terrible heat. Now he thought of the Wasteland as home.

Jak sat up. "Mar." He was puzzled. Why had he decided to say that name? It was his own name, but what importance did that hold? "Mar!" He said again, his voice ringing in his ears. The sound did not echo back, it seemed just to be swallowed up in the surrounding darkness. After a few moments he began to hear a noise. He could not place it and brushed it off as his imagination. But it gradually grew louder and Jak turned his head toward the sound. It was the soft scrape of sand. The bright beam did not allow him to see into the darkness, but he sensed that something was just outside the lighted ring.

"Mar." A raspy voice whispered.

"Hullo? Who's there?" Jak gained his feet and crouched in a defensive pose toward the voice. But no other noise came. The voice did not respond and the scraping of sand did not reoccur. He slowly walked toward the source of the voice and the beam, of course, followed, lighting only his immediate footsteps. Jak found nothing in the direction he thought he had heard the voice. The sand was level and undisturbed. Jak slumped to his knees and almost wept. Endless hours alone in the bright light surrounded by silent darkness, and now, this elusive voice, were more than he could bear. Jak began to get the feeling that he was undergoing something far worse than he had ever before endured. He almost wished that this voice was some delusion in his aching head.

He knelt with his face to the sand and wondered exactly why his head ached so. It seemed to be fine, no abnormal bumps or scratches. He checked over the rest of his body thoroughly. Nothing was abnormal at all. He looked over his many old battle scars and felt all of his muscles, reassuring himself that he was not really hurt. He rubbed his chin, the green goatee scratching loudly in the darkness against his calloused hand.

It had been years since he had been so alone. He hardly remembered stumbling around in the wilderness. He hardly remembered the day his uncle found him and took him in. _Is he really my uncle? _He shook his head sadly. He hardly remembered the precursor artifact around his neck. He did not remember it being placed there. He did not remember the circumstances. _Why did Damas send me away? Did he really _send_ me away?_ Jak began to get confused and decided not to think back that far.

He chucked at the memory of the revelation of the mighty precursors. Ha! The fact that Daxter himself was one of them all along made Jak shake his head in wonder.

"Jak? Ja-ak." Daxter was leaning over him waving a furry paw. "C'mon, man, get up. Time to kick some butt." He bounded out of sight and Jak sat up and pushed the scratchy blanket off. He wandered out of the room.

"Jak! Hurry yer butt, man! Beakkist is getting cold. Heh." Daxter climbed onto a rough-hewn wooden stool and spooned some porridge into his mouth. Jak slid onto the stool beside him and smiled up and the pretty young girl who placed a bowl in front of him.

"This is the life, y'know?" Dax stared after the girl until she disappeared around the corner.

"Hurry up, Dax, we've got work to do." Jak downed his hearty porridge, the specialty of Spargus City, and strode back to his room to retrieve his gear.

"All right, old pal. What's up today? We gonna blow crap up? Save the world as usual?"

Jak glanced down at his friend and strapped his armor on. "We're going to the monastery today." As was his wont, he did not include more that the bare essence.

Daxter rolled his eyes, exasperated. "And do what? That monk boy is cu-razy!" He paused. "It is a guy, right." Jak grinned and slid his morph-gun into its customary place on his back.

"Let's go."

Jak sat up and stared long and hard into the beam of light. "Curse you." He muttered. He did not continue speaking. As much as he yearned for something to break the monotonous silence, he did not want to go against his natural introspection.

"For heaven's sake, Dax, strap your goggles!" Jak turned toward his passenger. "They keep frickin' hitting me in the face!" He was tired and sore from a long day of tramping through endless miles of jungle terrain, jumping from stump to rock and swinging and climbing. Now the light was getting low, and they still had not found what they needed in order to continue. And to top it all off, Daxter's damn buckle was smacking him in the face as he ran.

Daxter could not help but retort. "Jak, yer not the only tired one, man! I been sittin' here all day, getting saddle sore on this old hunka metal." He gestured to the pauldron, and rubbed his bottom. Jak stopped and simply looked at Dax. Daxter opened his mouth to continue, but, seeing the look in Jak's eye, lowered his head and buckled his goggles.

A tear formed in the corner of Jak's eye. _A frickin' tear? Where'd that come from?_ Jak was not aware that he even had the capacity to cry. He had seen many people die, and had caused many deaths, but he never remembered ever crying. He sighed. He wasn't even really crying now. _My eye is just a little wet is all. Not true tears. Oh, Dax, where the heck are you?_


	3. Changes

Jak was roused by a sudden loud noise. He leapt to his feet, shaking his head to clear it. The light was moving on its own, a deep rumbling growl accompanying it. The sand all around Jak began to shift and slide about like liquid. Jak struggled to keep his feet and stay in the light. His head was clearer than it had been previously, so he was able to move quickly without nausea. The sand moved underfoot, but Jak was in his element. It was moments of pressure like these that Jak's conditioned instinct came into play. His feet found solid holds and his legs churned strongly to keep him in the light. He grinned smugly_. Let them come. I can take it._

The ground before him, lighted by the beam, suddenly dropped out of sight. Jak snapped his goggles over his eyes found that the far edge was just within jumping distance. Jak's bare feet left the near ledge in a mighty leap. He kept his eyes fixed on the opposite side of the rift. White sand flew around him, stinging his unprotected face, but he did not feel it, so intense was his purpose. He did not drop his gaze into the abyss.

Jak's left toes caught the far edge and his momentum carried his body in an arc. He rolled over his right shoulder and back onto his feet to continue running. He soon found out two very important things. One was that the ground was stable on this side of the crevasse, and the other was that he was dead on his feet.

He stopped and rested his hands on his knees, ready to continue if the need called. Just then, the bright overhead beam changed. It decreased in intensity and became yellow, revealing much more of the darkness beyond. He peered out of the lighted area, repositioning his goggles to allow for more clarity. Jak could see much more than he had, but the room appeared much too large for any definition of size. He could see no walls, no ceiling; only smooth white sand disappearing into darkness.

He glanced behind him into the newly opened crevice. The gap was now far too wide to leap, and the cut extended infinitely in either direction.

He panted briefly, regaining his strength, then set out with renewed vigor. The light, as usual, followed him, lighting his footsteps. The sand remained firm under foot, and no noise could be heard but the soft swish of his bare feet through the sand. As Jak ran, he began again to think of past escapades with his ever-present and, he grinned, ever-annoying friend.

"Jak, we'll get 'em this time, I mean, all you have to do is put in a little effort, and well, y'know, bedtime for bonzo!" Daxter patted Jak on the top of his head as he braced himself for the next wave of metalhead attackers. Jak charged the peacemaker, judging the amount of time it would take the attackers to get within range. He let off a shot which immediately took out the forerunners. Jak knew he did not have time to charge again, so he slipped the gun into its holster and squared off.

"Do yer stuff, buddy!" Daxter cried and got a better grip on the pauldron.

Jak searched deep within himself for the switch; the tiny change in emotion that would transform him into a machine. Instantly, his eyes turned dark, and horns sprung from his forehead as his fingers became deadly claws. An animal growl escaped his clenched teeth. He turned to his enemies, now no more than a few feet away, and smiled evilly. He bounded into the air and executed a graceful front flip, catapulting his body back toward the ground. Dark Eco erupted around him as he hit, causing the attackers to be thrown into the air, instantly killed.

Jak laughed like a maniac and glanced around, searching for more prey. Daxter cowered on his shoulder, trying to be invisible. Jak stood for a moment, the conflict within showing in his eyes. He bent over, and the darkness passed, leaving a diminished young man in the place of the terrible beast.

Jak ran his fingers through his hair.

"It's so frickin' cool when you do that..." Daxter trailed off. "Kinda freaks me out though." Jak nodded and sighed.

No changes had come to Jak's endless prison. The white sand and silence surrounded him. It felt good to lope along again in his natural pace, but he began to get frustrated at the monotony of his surroundings. His mind told him that it was impossible for the room to be infinite, but his eyes and ears gave him no clues to back that up. He was beginning to get hungry and was no little bit thirsty. He had no idea how long he had been there, but it was surely more than a day.

Jak stopped and turned his head form side to side, tuning his pointed ears to a sound. It was a faint mechanical hum, coming from somewhere underfoot. He knelt and turned his right ear toward the noise. There was certainly something there, underneath the sand. Jak began frantically digging, scooping large handfuls of the fine sand and flinging them behind him. He soon found that it was very difficult to dig the sand, as it would spill back into his excavation, but he slowly made progress. As he made the hole deeper, the hum grew louder. Finally his hands felt hard, cool metal through the grit, and the hum ceased. He ran his hand along it, uncovering more of its shape. His fingers found the edges and he tried to pry it from its place. The piece slowly rose from is grave and the sand slid off it with a hiss. Jak held the piece of metal up to the light. It was a precursor artifact, but he did not recognize it. Its shape was oblong with flattened edges. It was the normal precursor bronze color, but much larger than an orb. He turned it over in his hands, studying the unintelligible markings along its surface. He placed each of his hands on the flat edges and the letters began to glow, accompanied by the former hum. The piece became warm in his palms and he attempted to place the object back on the sand. However, he could not take his hands away, the metal seemed to cling to him, and he fixed his eyes on the writing.


	4. Happenings

The hum filled Jak's ears as the light of the letters filled his eyes. He stared fixedly at the precursor object, unable to remove his hands or his gaze. The droning hum became a series of different pitches, changing as the letters flashed in turn. Without realizing he was doing so, Jak began to chant the words as they lit up. His voice rose and fell with the hum and he began to walk, or rather, march away from the excavation. The words he chanted were of the old precursor language. And though Jak did not know that language, he was somehow able to read and pronounce it in an uncanny way.

Suddenly Jak came to a wall. The light shone off of it, revealing craggy grey stone. At the moment the beam touched the wall, the light and sound from the precursor artifact stopped. Jak blinked slowly and shook his head. He stared in wonder at the wall in front of him, and ran his fingers lightly across it to make sure it was real. He nearly wept for joy when he felt firm, rough stone. He quickly wrapped the artifact in his bandana and tied it to his belt.

Jak looked up the wall and found he could not see the top because of the darkness. He looked each way to find that the wall faded into darkness in both directions. He began walking with the wall on his left, running his fingers along it. The light continued to follow him, glaring harshly off the wall and illuminating a small distance in front of him.

He felt the temperature of the wall changed. Previously the wall was the same temperature as the room itself—quite warm. It now felt cool under Jak's hand. He stopped and felt along the wall for the place that the change occurred. He felt no significant break in the rock of the wall, but he found a very clear line where the rock changed from warm to cool. A bit further on, he found the spot where it became warm again. He placed his ear against the cool wall and knocked on it with his knuckles. Beyond the rock his sensitive ear picked up the echo of the tap. Immediately Jak began to search for a way to get through the layer of rock to the obvious passage on the other side. He peered upward again, searching for a possible way to scale the wall, but once more found that he could see nothing beyond the beam of light. That did not deter him from jamming his fingertips into nearly nonexistent imperfections in the wall to pull himself upward.

He slowly made his way straight up the cool part of the wall with the light following him. He was nearly two of his body lengths above the sand when the searching fingers of his left hand encountered warm stone again. He sighed and dropped back to the floor, landing lightly on the balls of his feet.

Jak ran along the wall for a ways, hoping to find something to help him. He did not want to go far from the cool wall, so he turned back after the brief and fruitless search. He returned to the cool section of the wall and slumped against it. He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his arms, trying to block out the pervasive light.

"C'mon, buddy, do yer stuff!" Daxter whispered in his ear. Jak whipped his gun out and switched to the blaster mod. He flattened himself to the wall and shot three rounds down the crowded alleyway. The shots bounced off the crumbling buildings and off the soldiers, killing them instantly. Jak peered around the corner and found more battle bots and krimsen guards. He shot another three rounds and crouched as they ricocheted along the narrow passage. When he stepped into the street, it was empty except for the outstretched bodies of his enemies. Jak plundered the weapons, refilling his mod clips and gathered what Dark Eco he could find. Suddenly a shot rang down the alley. Jak spun to face it and felt a terrible sting as it collided with his hip.

"Aaaahhhhrrr!" He growled, jumping up from his prone position on the sand. Jak glanced around him, unable to find an explanation for the heat and pain he felt at his hip. He calmed himself with a few deep breaths and glanced down to find that the precursor artifact was glowing through his bandana. The heat of the letters was beginning to burn his skin though the three layers of cloth. He quickly untied the bandana and the object dropped to the floor. Again he was drawn to it and extended his hands towards its ends.

Grasping the glowing object Jak stood up and once again began chanting the words as they lit up. Suddenly his eyes grew dark and his skin pale. His fingernails elongated and horns sprouted from his temples. With a roar he threw the artifact at the wall. The dark strike accompanied it and caused the wall to cave inward. A swift, cool breeze rushed out of the rift, covering Jak with pulverized rock dust. He sneezed and held his head as the darkness left him and he became himself.

Jak stepped up to the newly opened passage and looked into the darkness. He could see nothing, of course, past the beam of light. He stepped through the rubble and under the overhanging wall. The light did not follow; did not light his steps as he proceeded into darkness.


	5. Escape

Jak walked forward into the darkness boldly. He kept his hands slightly in front of his body to ward off unexpected obstacles. However, he encountered none. The passage was straight and smooth. Jak ran the tips of his fingers along each wall to feel if the wall gave way to another passage. He continued on in this way for a long time. The passage led him straight with no inclines or declines. The silence of the darkness surrounded him. The soft pad of his bare feet on the smooth stone and the slight echo of his breathing were the only sounds to be heard.

Jak walked on in this way with no change until his knees began to weaken from lack of sustenance. He slid to the ground with his back against the left-hand wall for a break. Cradling his head in his hands he reflected upon his past experiences, hoping to find something in his mind to help him from this place.

Daxter tremble silently from his shoulder as Jak cautiously crept forward through the darkness. He paced toward the soft blue glow. When he was within reach he struck it soundly and the glow expanded to fill the cave, revealing several large spiders dangling from the ceiling along his path. Jak sprang into action, striking the first spider from its line and tossing it over the edge. He executed a perfect uppercut to the next one, causing it to explode. The third descended quickly and he dispatched it with a few hearty punches. The light faded as his last punch fell and again he was lost in darkness. He strained his eyes ahead to see the next patch of blue. Carefully he made his way to it and struck it. Again the cavern sprang to light and ahead Jak saw a gap to cross and several ladders to climb. He ran forward and leapt the gap with ease continuing to the first ladder. As he reached the top, the path before him disappeared again into darkness. Daxter shuddered, but stayed silent. Jak eased his way along the narrow ledge, feeling the edges with his toes. Suddenly he felt piercing fangs in the back of his neck and Daxter cried out.

Jak shuddered and his eyes sprang open. His hand strayed to his neck where he felt the two scars. That bite had nearly been the death of him. Because of the adrenaline, he had been able to fight his way through the rest of the caves only to collapse at their end. He had been reawakened by Daxter force-feeding him some of the Sage's green Eco remedies.

Knowing nothing else to do, Jak got to his feet and continued down the dark passage. He felt no change in the monotonous passage for some time, then he became aware of an increasingly cool breeze. The breeze was accompanied by a slight left turn in the path. Jak strode eagerly forward, his steps echoing on the walls about him. The cool air became frigid shortly and fierce. It whipped about Jak, fluttering his tunic and hair. His feet and fingers began to become chilly, but he did not slacken his pace.

The path veered steadily left and a faint light could be made out ahead. At first Jak did not notice the light. His sight was deadened by constant darkness and the illusion of sight that accompanies such a thing. Then his eyes began to recognize the light and he increased his pace even more.

As the light grew, so grew the cold, but Jak was unfazed by the chill. He was reminded of his venture upon Snowy Mountain above the volcanic crater. There he had trodden through nearly a foot of snow and happily slid on the ice.

"Can you please hurry up and get rid of these guys? My butt is freezing off." Daxter growled as he tried to snuggle closer to Jak's neck.

"They keep multiplying. I can't get through them." Jak battered another snowy lurcher and dusted the resulting puff of powder from his face. He saw a break and turned, running quickly through the drifts, leaving the lumbering enemies behind. Suddenly he slid upon a patch of unseen ice and nearly tumbled to his death over the cliff edge.

"No need for that kind of hurry." Daxter patted his shoulder, concerned.

The breeze blew fresh cold air over Jak, a welcome relief from the hot air of the big cave and the stale air in the passage. The cold and the air invigorated him, making his forget his hunger and thirst. His muscles strengthened and his strides lengthened. The white light ahead nearly blinded him as he neared what surely had to be the exit.

_A/N: Yes, I leave you here for a time. One because I like to torture you; and two because I don't really know what is gonna happen next…_

_Again, I allow Jak to talk during the first game, as I think he could. I believe it is a joke that he was mute, he just did not like to speak. If the truth is contrary, please let me know and provide some proof. _


End file.
